One of the most popular vegetables in amateur gardens is eggplant. Seasoned gardeners are constantly trying new varieties in the hope of discovering some unexpected properties of their favorite fruits. You can diversify your beds with Valentine's eggplant - a fruitful hybrid with thin, but tasty fruits.
Description of Valentine eggplant variety
Eggplant Valentina - a hybrid obtained by the well-known Dutch company MONSANTO HOLLAND B. V. The history of this hybrid is not too "ancient" - in Russia it was listed in the State Register in 2007 and recommended for cultivation in all regions both in open ground and in greenhouses. It is considered a very early variety, especially when grown under a film.
Appearance
Eggplant Valentine is an erect, vigorous bush (up to 80-90 cm tall) with a semi-spreading structure. The stalk is strong, covered with pubescence, has a weak anthocyanin color of a purple hue. Leaves of medium size are painted in rich green. Blooms Valentine large white-purple flowers.
Despite the delicate appearance, Valentina's flowers withstand adverse weather conditions without crumbling
The fruits ripen early, 2-2.5 months after planting. When cultivating under a film, the first vegetables can be tasted in July.
The fruits are very attractive in appearance - glossy, dark purple. They have a pear-shaped shape, but are very elongated in length (up to 26 cm), diameter reaches 5 cm. The weight of one eggplant can reach 200-220 g. The peel is thin and easy to peel off. The pulp is dense, whitish in color, very tender and never bitter.
Fruits are one-dimensional and ripen together
Advantages and disadvantages of eggplant Valentine
Valentine eggplants are usually characterized by a number of advantages:
- early-growing and fruitful (in the open ground you can get up to 3.2 kg / m2);
- delicate and pleasant taste;
- attractive appearance and uniformity of fruits;
- small amount of seeds;
- resistance to weather vagaries, flowers do not crumble even under adverse conditions;
- high resistance to the tobacco mosaic virus.
The disadvantages of some gardeners include a small thickness of the fruit, and the taste seems ordinary to many (similar to the variety Diamond). It is believed that Valentina's pulp is inferior in quality to eggplant Bibo.
Sowing and growing a hybrid
Valentin's eggplant can be immediately sown in open ground (possibly only in warm regions) or pre-grown seedlings.
Growing seedlings
Seeds for seedlings are sown in the first decade of March. Since the seeds of Dutch hybrids are sold already processed, they do not need presowing treatment. Nevertheless, some gardeners believe that soaking in growth stimulants (for example, in aloe juice) accelerates the emergence of seedlings.
Remember that Valentine's eggplant is a hybrid and the seeds that you can get from the fruits will not repeat the properties of the mother plant. Planting material will have to buy.
Aloe juice is an excellent growth stimulator, soaking seeds in it is enough for half a day
For germination, the seeds are placed in wet wipes or cotton wool and kept for several days at a temperature of 22-25 aboutC. When the seeds hatch, they are carefully transferred to peat, plastic or paper cups filled with soil.
Seed containers are placed in a well-lit room - the more light, the higher the quality of seedlings (with a lack of light, young plants stretch out). To ensure sufficient lighting, you can use phytolamps.
Phytolamps provide illumination of the spectrum required for plants
By May, the seedlings are large enough for planting in a greenhouse or open ground. Before planting, the plants are hardened - they are taken out for several days, leaving each time for a longer time.
The author successfully grows eggplant seedlings using the following method. Seeds are sown in plastic cups on the 20th of February: they manage to develop well, and if some of the plants disappear, there is time to sow. The soil before planting must be shed with a hot solution of potassium permanganate. Seeds (dry, without pretreatment) are placed in the soil in two and covered with a layer of dry soil. Glasses are covered with a film and put in a warm place. Shoots appear quickly, after 1.5-2 weeks. Glasses with young plants are placed on the windowsill, watered with warm water, and fed with potassium permanganate 2-3 times (it also protects from the black leg). Processing (single) with the drug Athlete prevents seedlings from overgrowing.
Site selection and soil preparation
In the spring, when the soil warms up enough, seedlings can be transplanted to a permanent place. In different regions, landing dates can occur both at the end of April and in mid-June (in cold regions). The main criterion for choosing the landing time is the air temperature: as soon as it is established (night and morning) at the level of 15-16 degrees, you can land. By this time, the seedlings rises to 20-25 cm, 5-7 true leaves are formed.
For the eggplant beds should be allocated a sunny area, which is lit by the morning sun - it is more useful for vegetables. Orient the bed from west to east to avoid mutual shading of the bushes.
Eggplant should not be planted after other nightshade crops! Optimum precursors will be greens, legumes and gourds, cabbage and carrots.
The soil should be dug up a few days before planting (even if it was dug in the fall). In this case, humus, superphosphate, potassium salts are introduced into the soil. Light but fertile soil is most suitable for eggplant. If your site is clay, you need to add sand to the soil when forming beds.
Preparing the soil for eggplant - video
Some gardeners recommend planting mustard on a future eggplant bed at the end of April, and planting mustard greens in the soil before planting seedlings. To accelerate the decay of mustard, it is advisable to cover the bed with a film, but for 1-1.5 days it needs to be removed.
You can add complex fertilizers to the soil before planting the seedlings (for example, Rost or Kemira).
The width of the bed should be counted on the placement of no more than two bushes (at least 1 m). So the plants will be provided with a sufficient area of nutrition. The length of the garden bed can be made of any size, but it should be borne in mind that watering the eggplant should be carried out only with standing water, and long beds are difficult to water.
Landing rules
Valentine's eggplants can be planted in rows and staggered. In the second case, the plants receive more light with a smaller distance between them. In addition, the beds can be made narrower and easier if necessary, to cover it with a film. The width of the beds is approximately 60-70 cm. And the film will be enough in the first weeks, if you are concerned about possible night frosts.
In row planting, the distance between rows: 60-70 cm, between plants: 40-45 cm.
With a row landing, the distance between the rows should be at least 60 cm
Eggplants are planted in the evening or in the morning in the holes made in advance in the garden. A mug of warm water is poured into each well.
The first 7-10 days, Valentine eggplant seedlings need to be shaded if the weather is hot and cloudless. The soil is carefully compacted and mulched.
Planting eggplant in the open ground on video
Plant care
Hybrid Valentine is unpretentious and needs only standard care. Water the eggplant bushes with warm water 2-4 times a week. After watering, the soil around the plants is carefully loosened so as not to damage the roots, it is better to mulch the soil surface.
The first feeding of plants is carried out 3 weeks after planting. In 10 liters of warm water pour 1 tablespoon of Kemir fertilizer. Pour 0.5 liters under the root. You can use organic matter: wood ash, fermented infusion of meadow herbs and weeds, manure solution.
During the formation of the ovaries, nitrogen-phosphorus fertilizers are applied to the eggplant section in the proportion: 10 l of water: 25 g of superphosphate: 25 g of potassium salt.
When feeding mullein infusion, care must be taken - large doses can cause an increase in leaf mass to the detriment of the fruit.
The bushes are quite tall, so before fruiting they should be tied to supports.
It is advisable to maintain eggplant bushes with twine or fabric strips, especially during fruiting
At the end of July, they look through all the eggplant bushes to select the largest ovaries. They are left, while others are removed, just like flowers. This is done so that the fruits ripen faster.
When growing in a greenhouse, regular ventilation is necessary so that the eggplant bushes do not suffer from high temperature. Due to their stability, Valentine hybrid plants retain flowers and ovaries, but the fruits can become small.
Humidity should not exceed 70%, otherwise the pollen cannot move, the yield will decrease. After transplanting into the greenhouse, plants are watered for the first time after 5 days (irrigation rate of 0.5-1 l of water, strictly under the root). After watering, surface loosening is carried out.
Features of growing eggplant - video
How to protect eggplant from diseases and pests
With good resistance to viral diseases (for example, to tobacco mosaic) Valentine can be affected by fungal diseases, especially in conditions of high humidity. The most likely is the defeat of gray rot and late blight.
Rotten fruits completely lose their presentation
You can protect your landings from these unpleasant diseases with the help of preventive and therapeutic treatments. Treatment with Zircon and Fitosporin will help prevent fungal diseases. If the plants become ill with late blight, they can be saved with the help of Quadris or Anthracnol, and spraying with Horus will help against gray rot.
Remember, in addition to chemical treatments, it is very important to loosen and keep the soil clean under eggplant, as well as maintain moderate humidity - this often helps prevent diseases.
Of the pests, Valentine's eggplant can affect the Colorado potato beetle, slugs, aphids and spider mites.
Beetles and slugs can be eliminated manually if the planting area is not too large. For prevention, you can plant calendula, marigold, mustard next to the beds, as these plants scare bugs and aphids with their strong aroma. With a strong defeat by bugs, ticks and aphids, insecticide treatments, for example, Arrow, will help. To scare away and destroy slugs, it is recommended to sprinkle ash on the soil, as well as lay traps (for example, pieces of wood) under which the slugs are hidden. Traps are collected and burned.
Fighting egg spider mites - video
Harvesting and Harvesting
Valentine begins to collect eggplant in mid-summer. So that the fruits are not damaged, they need to be cut with a pruner. When the fruiting season begins, the eggplant needs to be removed every few days, avoiding over-ripening. Vegetables are suitable for collection, whose peel has become dark and glossy. If the peel has faded and faded slightly, it means that the fruit has oversized and the seeds began to harden in it.
It is necessary to collect overripe eggplants, otherwise the formation of new fruits will slow down.
You can keep eggplants without loss of taste for about a month in a cool room. Thanks to the excellent taste, Valentina’s fruits are good for making any culinary masterpieces.
Fried Valentina fruits go well with tomatoes and herbs
Reviews gardeners
Valentina’s fruits smelled of acetone 8) And Bibo is very delicate in taste, I will sow only it and the point
Songbird
//forum.prihoz.ru/viewtopic.php?t=6270&start=195
The taste of hybrids is no worse than that of varietal eggplant. Grow fast. Valentina bears fruit very early.
alex1940
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I planted Valentine. Fruiting actually begins early, and fruitful. The only thing, the fruits are thin. But it is not so critical
Dune
//dacha.wcb.ru/index.php?showtopic=39793&st=40
Valentina is a fruitful, thin, elongated shape, it is convenient to make eggplant in Korean.
Fairy Violet
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Last year I planted three varieties of eggplant: Bibo F1, Valentina F1 and Helios. Loved Bibo, fruitful, white flesh, not bitter. Helios is a longtime pet, I have been planting soot for 3 years already from my seeds. Valentina - average productivity, the taste is ordinary (like Diamond), the flesh is greenish.
viki00
//www.sadiba.com.ua/forum/showthread.php?p=579590
Eggplant Valentine does not require large labor costs for its cultivation. If you follow the standard rules of care, you can get a good harvest in the early stages. The main thing is not to let the fruit re-rip!
